Match-box.



H. CHEVOLA, JR.

MATCH BOX.

APPLICATION FILED MAY5.1917.

Patented Sept, 17, 1918.

fizz/y 6/2 600 ZQJ."

ATTORNEY ATEN MATCH-BOX.

Application filed May 5,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY CHEvoLA, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at 625 East 187 th St, New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Match-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to special receptacles, and more particularly to match safes of the single delivery type having a grooved slide or member which ejects or delivers one match at a time.

The object of the invention-is to produce an extremely simple, cheap, all-metal singledelivery box which may itself be used as a match safe if it has sufficient capacity 01' which may be attached to and form the outlet spout of an independent receptacle of considerable size.- This type of boxes is employed to counteract the prevailing tendency of the general public to help itself to matches, tooth picks, and the like. A lunchroom proprietor, for instance, is perfectly willing that a customer shall take one, and if that be a match and it goes out perhaps a second, but he does not like to furnish these articles too liberally, and this condition has given rise to the single-delivery box. To make such devices serviceable and salable, they must be extremely cheap and yet reliable; and my present invention is designed to meet this want. Without being limited in this particular, I find that I can make the entire article of sheet tin with the exception perhaps of wires in its beads (indeed, these could be omitted) and a stiff wire or rod to be used as an operating handle. So constructed, the device could be used as the outlet or spout of a receptacle of most any kind, by attaching it to the lower end thereof.

The invention therefore may be said to lie in the specific details of construction hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view .of this match box in use, the same being shown as applied to a receptacle which is indicated only in dotted lines and of which receptacle the box itself forms a spout.

Fig. 2 is a vertical central section through the device with the parts the position they assume when a single match is being delivered.

Fig. 3 is a similar section with the parts Specification of Letters Patent.

1917. Serial No. 166,721.

in the opposite position or at rest, and this view omits the tray.

Fig. i is a perspective view of the rear element side of the hopper, so-called, and part of the ejector.

In the drawings the numeral 1 designates an upright rectangular casing, preferably beaded around its upper and lower edges as at 2 and 3 and having an opening 4 in its front wall, around which the metal 'may also be beaded as at 5 to prevent injury to the operator. This casing may be made from sheet tin or other like cheap and comparatively stiff material, and it is provided with perforations for a purpose yet to appear. It is perhaps an inch and one-half wide, and in length it is slightly greater than that of the common match (or tooth pick).

The numeral 6 designates a tray, preferably beaded around its edges as at 6 and its back is carried upward and turned over and downward into a lip 7 which may engage over the lower edge of the opening 1 in the front wall of the casing when the tray is in use. It is into this tray that the match may be dropped'as described below, but if the match is to be delivered into the hand of the operator or by him picked from the tongue, the tray may be omitted.

The hopper is also made up of sheet metal, preferably of tin. It comprises a front element 10 whose upper edge is formed into a lip 11 hooked over the front edge of the casing, and whose lower portion is bent obliquely to the rear; and a rear element 12 having at its upper edge a similar lip 13 hooked over the upper edge of the rear wall of the casing, and its lower portion is inclined obliquely forward. Referring now to Fig. 4, it will be seen that the lower edge of this element 12 has stops 14 at its ends extending to a lower point than the lower edge of the front element 10 of the hopper.

The ejector may also be of tin. It comprises a substantially upright body portion 20, from whose upper edge extends atongue 21 narrower than its body, bent forward and curved, then bent downward into a little shoulder 22, thence continued farther forward at 23, and finally turned up at its front edge in a lip 24, although the latter may be omitted as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The lower end of the body 20 is carried forward at 25 and is rolled at 26 around a stiff Patented Sept. 17, 1918. j

rod or rather heavy wire 27 which is journaled in openings 28 in the end walls of the casing and has a handle 29 outside of one of such walls. The extremities of the oblique portions of the hopper-elements may have tongues 30 projecting through openings 31 in said end walls, to hold their inclined lower portions properly spaced.

When now the parts are assembled, the hopper-elements are hooked over the upper edges of the front and rear walls of the casing and dropped into position, their tongues entering the holes in the ends thereof and the lower edges of their inclined portions standing slightly spaced to form an outlet slot, while the stops of the rear element hang in rear of this slot. The ejector being mounted on its oscillating shaft, its tongue passe through the space between the two stops and moves across the slot between the lower edges of the inclined portions of the two hopper-elements, and therefore when the handleis given proper motion, a single match which may have fallen on the tongue forward of the shoulder 22 is carried forward by such shoulder and eventually rolls I 7 Copies of this patent may be obtained for down the inclined portion 23- against the lip 24; so that it may be lifted off the same by the operator. If the lip 24: were omitted and the tray 6 were used, the match would roll off the inclined portion 23 onto the tray, and could be picked from the tray by the operator.

' Attention is invited to the fact that the shape of the ejector is such that when it is swung forward so that the shoulders 21 on its body portion20 strike the stops, itscenter of gravity is forward of a point directly above it shaft, and it remains in this position. I On the other hand, when it is swung rearward so that the shoulder comes under the'space between the lower ends of the two hopper-elements, its center of gravity is in rear of its operating shaft and the parts remain in this position. Now the superimposed stack of matches within the casing above'the hopper causes the lowermost match to be projected between their lower edges and to drop on the tongue forward of the shoulder, so that when the ejector is next swung forward a single match again is carried with it out the opening in front of the casing, to the user, and meanwhile the rear end of the tongue 21 passes across the slot, between the hopper-elements and prevents further matches from dropping until the ejector is restored to its normal position. The use of the tray is therefore optional. If the front end of the tongue is turned up into a lip 24:, the tray may be omitted, If the purchaser prefers not to have this lip, or prefers in place of this lip to provide a small receptacle into which the single match will drop, he may employ the tray, andrit may be to his interest to employ said tray if it is provided with advertising matter as is sometimes the case. I do not wish to be limited to the size, proportions, shapes and materials of parts other than as set forth below.

What is claimed as new is 1. The herein described single-delivery match box comprising a rectangular casing having an opening in its front, a hopper consisting of a front element hooked over the upper edge of the casing with its lower portion bent rearward and a rear element hooked over the upper edge of the casing with its lower portion bent forward, depending stops at the endsof the lower edge of the rear element said stops extending below the lower edge of the front element, and means for connecting the extremities of said elements with the end walls of the casing, the hopper having an opening at its bottom; combined with a sheet-metal ejector having a substantially upright body, a forwardly projecting and downwardly. curved tongue at the upper edge of said body passing between said stops and'across the lower edges of the hopper-elements and having a forwardly-facing shoulder within its length, said tongue being disposed in line with said opening, and an oscillating shaft on which said body is mounted, said stops serving to limit the movement of the ejector in one direction and further operating to prevent the matches from entering beneath the rear element as they pass from the hopper.

2. The herein described single delivery match box comprising a casing having an opening in its front wall, a'hopper located in said casing and having its lower end disposed in line with said opening, the hopper having an opening at its bottom, a plurality of spaced stops extending from the'lower end of the hopper, and an ejector movable in the casing beneath the hopper, a tongue extend- "the same, said tongue passing directly between said stops and adapted to be projected through the opening in said casing,v the.

tongue having a shouldered portion adapted to underlie the hopper and to receive a single match, the said shouldered portion normally lying directly in front of said stops, the stops operating to prevent the match when discharged onto said shouldered portion from passing rearwardly beneath the hopper, and means for actuating said ejector.

In testimony-whereof I aflix my signature.

HENRY GHEVOLA, JR.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

